Love Parade Tragedy

Shock and terror on the streets of Duisburg where the Love Parade festival was transformed in a complete tragedy.  19 people died and more than 340 were injured in an ambush that took place at the famous electronic music festival in Germany.

The tragedy was produced in a tunnel in the Western German city when the police tried to block the access of the participants in a moment when the area of the whole event became overcrowded. The police asked the participants to return and take another way to get to the festival, because the fact that many people have chosen the tunnel made it unable to be used and overcrowded. The crowed in the tunnel was too large, so people couldn’t move. Exactly what happened in that moment is still unknown. It seems that somebody felt and people started climbing on the tunnel walls to avoid being crushed. Witnesses actually sow how people die under their eyes.

The tunnel was filled with people and there were no lights according to the participants. The scenes were so tragic and chaotic that rescue teams could not reach the ones that have been injured. The police is trying to establish what happened exactly and the investigations just started. However, a thing is certain: panic broke out when people were told to go back.

Despite the tragedy that happened in the German city, the electronic music festival continued because the organizers were afraid that canceling the show will cause another panic in the crowds that can create another tragedy.

More than 1.5 million people were gathered in Duisburg, near Dusseldorf for the famous music festival. However, it seems that the police has already warn the organizers of Love Parade that the crowed will be uncontrolled if the event is organized in the center of the city. So, the whole music festival was moved somewhere at the entrance of the city, in an open area and more than 1200 policemen were there to maintain order. However, it looks like that this tragic event couldn’t be anticipated by authorities and everyone was passed by the way things evolved.

Love Parade is a festival of music that takes place every year in Germany, The first event was held in Berlin, in 1989 as a demonstration of freedom and club culture liberty, but because Berlin is the capital of the country and there are many issues regarding organizing such a big event here, it was moved in the west of the state. Love Parade means nowadays a massive annual celebration of club culture.

Now an investigation is performed by the police to be able to establish exactly what happened. The number of people that were injured in the incident can be higher according to the German authorities and it will probably be made public after the end of the festival. However, this year, the number of participants passed all expectations and at the moment of the tragic event things were uncontrollable.

Some of the witnesses and survivors declared that they sow people dying near them. Is hard to believe that such tragic things still can happen today, but it looks like, unfortunately, the 2010 edition of Love Parade wasn’t a happy event after all. But, it is ever safe to participate at festivals of this nature or events of this kind are something expected? When there are so many people present, the chances of such awful things to happen are definitely higher.